What Is a Leak, Who Is a Whistleblower? An Evaluation Within the Scope of the Cumhuriyet Newspaper, Can Dündar and MİT Trucks Case (original) (raw)
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Sahra Essalhi, 2019
The present dissertation explored the whistleblowing phenomenon in the United States and highlighted the case of Edward Snowden. Judging the persona of the whistleblower has always been a matter of discussion in the American community. It is an area of debate where the views vary and oppose one another. The exclusive case of the National Security Agency (NSA) and Snowden made the government project him as a traitor while the public seemed to support his message and consider him a hero. The deliberation about his image kept the momentum of not settling on a final judgment. Within the scope of this dissertation, the attained results affirm that the young whistleblower is a national hero. As reinforcement to the confirmed hypothesis, the current work asserts a collection of convincing arguments to put an end to the long lasting debate about the image of Snowden, proving that whistleblowers are often subject of rejection by the government if their message falsifies in any shape or form the credibility of the system upon which it operates.
The ethics of whistleblowing, leaking and disclosure
2017
Edward Snowden, a low-level private contractor to the US-based National Security Agency (NSA), breached prima facie legal and moral confidentiality/secrecy obligations by engaging in unauthorized accessing, retrieving and/or releasing of a large volume of confidential data from NSA to the press and, possibly, to foreign powers, for example China or Russia. This raises a raft of ethical issues in relation to whistleblowing, leaking and disclosure. In this entry I undertake three tasks. First (section 1), I discuss the nature of whistleblowing with a view to differentiating it from other forms of unauthorized disclosure, for example leaking. Second (section 2), I provide analyses of the moral principles of privacy and confidentiality, and differentiate these from the (arguably) non-moral principles of anonymity and secrecy (respectively). The principles of privacy and confidentiality have inherent moral weight – in a sense clarified below – and, as such, can justify non-disclosure. Th...
From Edward Snowden to Christopher Wylie – the face of the second generation whistleblowing
Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, 2019
A whistleblower is a person who publicizes and denounces illegal or unfair practices in his workplace. As history has shown, whistleblowers are great sources of information for journalists. A few examples being Daniel Ellsberg, who was at the forefront of the scandal concerning the Pentagon Papers and Mark Felt, who was a whistleblower involved in the Watergate scandal. Without people like Daniel Ellsberg and Mark Felt, it would be impossible to present and explain some of the biggest 20th century political scandals in the United States. The aim of the paper is to analyze the role of key whistleblowers and other key people who played an important role in disclosing that information to journalists through the use of databases and other forms of new technologies. The overall concept of what will be referred to as 'second generation whistleblowing' is the result of observations and analysis of the activities of both whistleblowers as well as dynamically changing journalism, media and information in the 21st century.
Ethical Risks, Informers, Whistleblowers, Leaks and Clamor for Transparency
Brazilian Journalism Research
Leaks and whistleblowers have been increasingly used for the production of large media coverage. Characters like Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and informers of “Operation Car Wash” in Brazil have become not only useful for the process of transparency and accountability, but also signal traps to reporters and newsrooms. In this article, I present the concept of Ethical Risk and I list a number of its forms in contemporary journalistic production, driven by WikiLeaks, Panama Papers and transformations of democratic societies
The Whistleblowing Intentions of Turkish Employees
European Journal of Business and Management, 2016
This study aimed to examine the likelihood to blow the whistle on various kinds of organisational wrongdoing and the preferred whistleblowing channels among a sample of Turkish employees. Moreover, it aimed to investigate the influence of socio-demographic variables, i.e., age, organisational tenure, gender, status in the organisation, and type of organisation, on whistleblowing intentions. Our results showed that Turkish employees’ intention to blow the whistle internally was higher than that for external whistleblowing. They had the intention of whistleblowing primarily of events perceived as serious fraud and behaviours causing harm to others. Those who intend to use internal channels to blow the whistle were more likely to be female, older and working in public sector. On the contrary, those who intend to use external channels for reporting were more likely to be younger, less tenured and working in private sector. Our findings contribute to the existing whistleblowing research ...
Whistleblowing, National Security and the Constitutional Freedom of Political Communication
Whistleblowers promote the values of responsible government and the rule of law by drawing attention to criminal or other forms of wrongdoing in publicly accountable organisations. This article explores the relationship between whistleblowing, national security and the implied freedom of political communication under the Australian Constitution. Legislation such as the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) ('Crimes Act'), the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (Cth) ('ASIO Act') and the Australian Border Force Act 2015 (Cth) ('Border Force Act') makes it an offence to reveal certain types of information obtained as a Commonwealth officer. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth) ('PIDA') offers limited protection to whistleblowers in the Commonwealth public sector, but this protection does not extend to information relating to intelligence operations. We argue that blanket criminalisation of unauthorised disclosure by Commonwealth officers or contractors under s 70 of the Crimes Act, along with similar prohibitions in s 35P of the ASIO Act and s 42 of the Border Force Act, offend the implied freedom of political communication by failing to strike an adequate balance between national security and organisational secrecy, on the one hand, and public debate and discussion, on the other. The courts should read down these laws to protect disclosures that hold significant public interest for discussion and debate over government policy or the performance of government officials.
Leaks and the Limits of Press Freedom
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2019
Political philosophical work on whistleblowing has thus far neglected the role of journalists. A curious oversight, given that the whistleblower's objective-informing the public about government wrongdoing-can typically not be realized without the media. The present article, therefore, aims to start remedying this neglect by exploring some of the most pressing questions. Accordingly, the paper will be structured as follows: Section 1 will explain why the authorities have treated whistleblowers far more harshly than the journalists who publish their disclosures. Still, the freedom of expression of media workers is (and ought to be) less extensive than that of ordinary individuals. Section 2 will explain why by arguing that the freedom of expression of the press, contrary to that of individuals, is not an unconditional good; instead, it is good merely instrumentally. Section 3 considers and refutes an argument for a more expansive press freedom based on the marketplace of ideas model and, in doing so, also discusses some important differences between the ethics of the traditional and the new online media. Often journalists, like whistleblowers, will justify their publications based on leaked classified documents by appealing to the public interest. Yet, this is problematic for two reasons: (1) the public interest is never clarified; and (2) this argument overlooks the fact that the public interest can also be a reason for not publishing about leaked classified documents, even if the leaks are verified (in the interest of national security, for example). Accordingly, Section 5 sets out to clarify the public interest. Section 4 then discusses two case studies-one concerning unverified leaks, and one concerning verified leaks-in order to demonstrate how we might employ the concept of the public interest in order to determine the permissibility of publishing about leaked classified information in practice.
The anatomy of leaks Tracing the path of unauthorized disclosure in the Israeli press
An innovative methodology of face-to-face reconstruction interviews with the reporters who had authored a sample of news items allowed wide and systematic research access to one of the most sensitive and virtually unapproachable spheres of journalism -leaks. The main fi ndings were that (1) leaks were highly prevalenteach fi fth item involved the sensitive practice; (2) the dominant leakers were senior sources; (3) the favorite channel for leaks was the telephone; (4) leaked stories were initiated equally by reporters and sources; and (5) leaks were cross-verifi ed with additional sources much more frequently than non-leaked items. The study, which took place in Israel, focused on national daily press reporters and their contacts with news sources.
Damming the Leaks: Balancing National Security, Whistleblowing and the Public Interest
2015
In the last few years we have had a number of infamous national security leaks and prosecutions. Many have argued that these people have done a great service for our nation by revealing the wrongdoings of the defense agencies. However, the law is quite clearthose national security employees who leak classified information are subject to lengthy prison sentences or in some cases, even execution as a traitor. In response to the draconian national security laws, this article proposes a new policy which fosters the free flow of information. First, the article outlines the recent history of national security leaks and the government response to the perpetrators. Next, the article outlines the information policy of the defense industry including the document classification system, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), whistleblower laws and the Espionage Act. Finally, the article outlines a new policy that will advance government transparency by promoting whistleblowing that serves the p...
2024
The disclosure of wrongdoings by whistleblowers is currently encouraged by numerous countries. However, when it comes to disclosures involving illegal state secrets in matters of national security, there is a very different legislative treatment worldwide. Whistleblowers who disclose classified information with the purpose of revealing wrongdoings are usually convicted for espionage or other related crimes, even if their disclosures are of great public interest. The purpose of this paper is to explain why the behaviour of such whistleblowers deserves a certain degree of leniency and how this could be legally implemented. First, the arguments for and against the disclosure of classified information will be presented. Next, the role that unauthorised disclosures of classified information play in the pursuit of state transparency will be addressed. Finally, the article will present the central arguments in favour of the legitimacy of this behaviour and analyse the legal alternatives for a complete or partial exemption from criminal liability.